Akazu (red sake-lees vinegar)
Japanese reddish-brown vinegar from sake lees matured about three years, turned to vinegar by acetic bacteria; the vinegar of Handa and Edomae sushi rice.
Saishikomi shoyu
再仕込み醤油 (さいしこみしょうゆ) · Saishikomi · Double-brewed soy sauce · Twice-brewed soy sauce · 再仕込み
Saishikomi shoyu is a double-brewed soy sauce: a second moromi is made with a finished soy sauce in place of salt water, which makes a dark, concentrated sauce with softer salt.
What saishikomi is
Saishikomi means brewed again, and the name describes the difference. A standard soy sauce is made by mixing koji with salt water, letting the mash ferment and age, and pressing it. A saishikomi is made by mixing the same kind of koji with a finished soy sauce in place of the salt water, so the second batch starts with sauce that has already been brewed.
MAFF reports equal soybean and wheat koji inputs and an ageing period of around one and a half to two years or longer. Its origin is Yamaguchi.
Sources for this section
Why it is a second brewing stage
The defining change is the liquid in the second brew. The finished sauce carries the salt, sugar, amino acids and colour of the first brew, so the second brew builds on them rather than starting from brine. The result is darker and more concentrated than a single-brewed sauce, and it is a second brewing stage rather than a darker finish added at the bottle.
The overview does not describe the vessels for the two stages in dimension. The first product's liquid and the second moromi are separate, and that separation is the feature the page explains.
Sources for this section
Why it takes so long
A second brew that uses finished sauce also takes a long time to mature, and the sources give that as the reason for the long ageing. The sauce keeps developing colour and flavour through the ageing, and the length of the ageing is a matter of the product's character. No source read gives a shorter period for a home version.
Sources for this section
Method
The second batch is brewed with finished soy sauce in place of brine. A new koji is made from soybeans and wheat, then mixed with liquid that is already soy sauce. Because the liquid carries flavour and colour from the first batch, the second batch adds depth without the strong salt of an ordinary moromi.
Producers' ageing times vary. One guide gives 6 to 8 months for koikuchi and 15 to 18 months for saishikomi; the figures come from a single source and are not a standard.
Sources for this section
History
MAFF reports saishikomi as originating in Yamaguchi. The overview does not date its origin.
Ingredients
SoybeansCooked
Amount not stated
Roasted wheatRoasted and cracked
Amount not stated
Koji seed culture (tane-koji)
Amount not stated
Finished soy sauce from an earlier batchUsed in place of salt water
Amount not stated
Replaces the brine of an ordinary moromiSalt (first batch only)
Amount not stated
Used in the first moromi, not the secondMethod
- Make a first batch of koji from cooked soybeans and roasted wheat with koji seed culture.
- Make the first moromi with salt water and ferment and mature it until it is ready to press.
- For the second batch, make fresh koji in the same way.
- Mix the new koji with finished soy sauce instead of salt water to form the second moromi.
- Ferment and mature the second moromi for a long period, commonly reported at 15 to 18 months, which gives a dark, concentrated, softer and less salty sauce.
- Press and filter the mash to give saishikomi shoyu.
Places
Yamaguchi and San'in through Kyushu
Traditional preparation · Region evidenceMAFF names Yamaguchi as the origin; the region of spread is given as San'in through Kyushu.
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Sources
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), JapanDefinition · Method · History
Soy sauce, miso, other seasoningsSaishikomi uses finished soy sauce in place of salt water in the second brew.
Equal soybean and wheat koji inputs; ageing around one and a half to two years or longer.
Origin in Yamaguchi.
Cited in: What saishikomi is; Why it is a second brewing stage; Why it takes so long; Method
WOW NipponMethod
Double-brewed soy sauce (saishikomi shoyu) product listingsDouble-brewed sauce uses finished soy sauce in place of brine for the second batch; deeper colour and umami are reported.
Cited in: Method